I must thank Andrew Cullison for introducing me to Ubuntu (“Linux for Human Beings”) last month.

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One big plus for me was that my old OS (Windows Vista Home Edition) didn’t have networking capabilities. Once I switched to Ubuntu, I could log on to the Princeton network and create my university webpage from my laptop. Very convenient.

Wow, what a nice surprise! (This has actually been in development since December of last year :o) The OLPC Sugar desktop environment is available in the Ubuntu Hardy repository! You can use the emulator to run it in a window or login as a full blown desktop through GDM (the default login screen for (X)Ubuntu users)!

Many people don’t realize the wealth of applications available for Linux — and that includes financial software. Jack Wallen introduces 10 Linux apps that will meet your financial needs, whether you just want a digital replacement for your checkbook or you’re looking for a full-blown accounting package for your organization.

Leftovers

I can remember reporting on a leaked internal memo that Bill Gates issued to Microsoft staff in 1995 which was a literal call to arms to fight both Netscape (not mentioned by name) and the onset of the Internet. It was obvious to Gates that the cards were on the table and the Internet was holding all the Aces.

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Gates also watched as Microsoft’s last great Wintel project Vista turned into a disappointing flop, with many users and pundits believing that it offered no significant improvements over Windows XP. Similar things could said for Office 2007.

During the dev panel a few minutes ago, Tom Chilton told us something interesting about playing World of Warcraft on the Linux platform — Blizzard has actually had it working. For “compatibility purposes,” they apparently had an internal build of the game that worked on Linux.

One of the first things to notice about Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 1 is its new theme. Originally, Ubuntu 8.04 was supposed to introduce a (much-anticipated) new default theme for Ubuntu, but that was pushed back into Intrepid Ibex.

Ubuntu MID is finger friendly, with no stylus needed. You drive Ubuntu MID with touch. Simply tap the screen or drag a finger to make gestures for intuitive navigation and control. All you will need is to tap an application with your finger to launch it, and tap menus and buttons to use them or swipe a Web page to pan up, down or sideways. Playing on a mobile device was never that much fun as here you can also swipe a video, photo, song or thumbnail page to move to the next or the previous one.

The war-of-words between Sun Microsystems and NetApp over patent infringement claims wages on, while legal means to settle the matter have failed.

The two companies tried to sit down this week for a settlement conference, but judging by Sun’s response of publicly boasting that it has removed at least one of NetApp’s patents from the litigation and declaring the legal scuffle a war between ideologies — we’d say the mediation wasn’t entirely a success.

The book is a real treat for those who like intellectual property (despite the anti-patent message of the book) and may offer something for the generalist reader who likes to get lost in a legal thriller while basking in the summer sun.

Patents would be turned into a customs issue (whaaat?), and there would be no need actually to show that an infringement happened in order to start a “procedure”…. In other words, this SECURE (and for the name, see here) is about extending the RIAA’s intimidatory tactics to the whole of intellectual monopolies, and globally.

nteroperability continues to be a major issue. New systems are built on proprietary standards, increasing the cost of installation, while an older but effective system loses support when its maker merges with another vendor and decides to let that product fade into history.